Latitudinal distribution of skeleton shrimps (Amphipoda, Caprellidae) in artificial habitats throughout the eastern South Pacific coast of Peru

ABSTRACT

Biodiversity tends to decrease poleward and increase towards the equator. However, these patterns remain unknown for many invertebrate taxa throughout Peru's eastern South Pacific coast, particularly for caprellid crustaceans which are conspicuous in artificial habitats. Three biogeographical units have been proposed for the Peruvian coast: Panamic and Humboldt provinces with a transition zone in between, but a few invertebrates support this classification. We evaluated if the diversity of caprellids decreases towards high latitudes and if the assemblages of caprellids depicted the biogeographic zonation proposed for the Peruvian coast. From 15th to 31st October 2021, caprellids were collected from biofouling communities colonizing boat hulls, buoys, and ropes throughout the Peruvian coast (3.74°–17.99° S). The caprellid assemblage consisted on six species: Caprella penantis [sensu lato], C. penantis f. gibbosa, C. equilibra, C. scaura, Paracaprella pusilla, and Deutella venenosa. Overall, caprellids' abundance, species richness, and diversity decreased southwards. Specific caprellid assemblages showed affinities for each of the three biogeographical units. The dissimilarity of the caprellid assemblages increased at approximately every one degree of latitude. Although artificial substrates can alter biodiversity patterns, caprellids showed the canonical pattern of high diversity towards the equator and resembled the biogeographic zonation proposed for the Peruvian coast.

KEYWORDS:

• Biogeographical zonation
• Peruvian province
• biofouling
• caprellids
• crustacea
• invertebrate assemblage

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Breydhi Segura for his support during initial sample processing and to the ACME research group at UNMSM for logistical support. Special thanks to Pablo Llauce and Robert Chunga for transportation along the coast of Peru, Ana Rodriguez for her help during fieldwork, and all fishermen for their help during sampling.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos - RR N° 006087-21, project number B211011961 and RR N° 001393-21, project number B20100370a.